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'Blower' Bentley sells for $7 million at Goodwood Festival of Speed

1 of 4This 1929 4.5-liter Bentley "Blower" sold for $7 million at Bonham's Goodwood Festival of Speed auction.

Photo by Bentley Motors

2 of 4

Photo by Bentley Motors

3 of 4

Photo by Bentley Motors

4 of 4Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin piloted the Bentley to a record-breaking speed of 137.96 mph in March 1932

Photo by Bentley Motors

Bonhams set an auction record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Friday, selling Tim Birkin's 4.5-liter Supercharged “Blower” Bentley for the equivalent of $7 million.

The record eclipsed the old mark for a Bentley sold at auction by more than $2.5 million. The previous record was set by a Bentley Speed Six known as Old No. 2 at the Le Mans Classic in 2004.

The sale took place just 35 miles from the Brooklands circuit, where racing driver and ex-fighter pilot Sir Henry Ralph Stanley “Tim” Birkin became one of the stars of the Outer Circuit portion of the track. In March 1932, Birkin set a lap record at the Brooklands of 137.96 mph; he later admitted that it hadn't been the safest thing he's ever done.

“There are bumps which jolt the driver up and down in his seat,” said Birkin, “and make the car leave the road and travel through the air.”

In addition, Birkin ordered the crankshaft-mounted blower against the wishes of W.O. Bentley. Bentley believed that aftermarket forced induction represented a corruption of his company's engineering and design work.

Richard Charlesworth, Bentley's director of VIP and royal relations, reflected on the sale.

“Birkin—along with his Bentley racing friends like Woolf Barnato, Dudley Benjafield and Glen Kidston—were true sporting superstars, renowned not only for their driving ability and courage but living life to the full and in some considerable style. They would create the enduring legend of the Bentley Boy racer at Brooklands and Le Mans, and this new record price for a Bentley achieved by Bonhams reflects the enduring respect and admiration for their story and their cars.”